One of the objectives of the Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) is to provide affordable housing and residential plots. But the price of plots at KHB’s newly-developed layout at Yelwala, around 10 km from Mysore city, seems to be against its mission.

Here, sites cost more than those offered by private players.

A KHB plot here costs `695 a sqft, while private developers offer sites at around `500.

While private sites close to the Mysore-Bantwal highway at Yelwala are valued at `1,100-1,500 per sqft, those in the interior regions cost around `500-800 per sqft.

What’s more, some private layouts are fully developed complete with roads and underground drainage and are closer to the highway than the KHB layout which is three km from the highway.

The price is said to be one of the reasons for the poor response to KHB’s project.

It has received 10,000 applications for 4,500 sites here while the ratio is said to be higher for its other projects.

Among tier-two cities, Mysore is the most preferred destination for site buyers in the state.

According to the Urban Development Department, there is a demand for 2.43 lakh sites in Mysore which is 70 per cent of the state’s demand.

However, a KHB official attributed the high price to the cost of the land.

He said the KHB bought land for `36.50 lakh per acre in 2011 while private developers had bought land many years ago for less than `10 lakh an acre. However, he said most private layouts do not have basic facilities like power station, water treatment plant and Cauvery water.

KHB executive engineer Udayshankar maintained that their sites are still cheaper than private ones.